Anything other than that thread?
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Just donāt let Hagans and Poindexter go with him 
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A lot of tweets from pseudo-insider accounts with like 3k followers. Nothing concrete or anything, but definitely smoke.
If I was him Iād wait to see how things shake out with the SEC jobs. Only 2 SEC teams can employ Sumrall and Kiffin next year, Iād think the losers of those sweepstakes would be pretty interested in Franklin. But I think @uva123 is right that it may be as much about revenge.
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Theyāre offering top third SEC $ for head coaching and coordinator salaries and a commitment to spend that would put them in the top ACC. A league that has one of the easiest paths to the CFP. In a state that has fertile recruiting grounds.
I donāt doubt that VT has helped increase his price for a larger school. He can afford to wait it out and see if theyāll offer more. I bet one bites (my money is on Florida).
If Iām FSU or Wisconsin, I might be assembling an offer (not sure that FSU has the $$). Heck, even NC State should be checking in.
Would be a phenomenal hire for them and erase any in roads we have made against the Hokies (which I would argue is more about Hokies losing ground to other schools like Penn State than it has been us gaining any). Whether it has longevity or not really is moot if he can get them into the CFP during his tenure.
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In that, worst case scenario for us imo, case maybe just maybe sparks our whales to continue giving at the current paceā¦.
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No clue if Franklin actually has a deal with VT or not at this moment (10/29 at 8:30am ET), and I question why would he lock up a deal right now, 6 weeks before the season ends and all the openings hit the board.
One reason would be that VT is offering such an astronomical number he cannot say no- possible but hard to believe VT has pulled together that much money that quickly.
Reason 2 He really likes Blacksburg SW VT and living up to Beamers shadow - maybeā¦ IDK
Reason 3 He went to the Lane Kiffin school of negotiating and learned you can play schools off each other to get even more money - very reasonable rationale.
My point being, take away the fandom, from a business perspective what is the competitive advantage for Franklin locking up his next coaching gig in Oct/Nov when all the chips have not been laid out on the table?
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Probably a big but exploding offer.
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Also, I really think (if he says yes) the idea of a lot lower stress situation compared to what heās had and what he would have if he took, UF, FSU etc. He knows the recruiting territory and could likely bang out 7-9 wins a season and have a perfectly content fanbase. I can absolutely also see VT throwing every penny they can find to make this happen at the expense of every other sports program they have. Sorry Coach Young. Plus, theyād likely sign off on a ridiculous buyout and heās going to still be getting paid by PSU.
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Guessing he verbally agreed so VT leaked it to put pressure on him to wrap it up before next week. Only way I see it falling through is if Florida decides they want him (which seems highly unlikely) or FSU loses this weekend and quickly fires Norvell and immediately zeroes in on Franklin. Otherwise I kind of think VT is the best job for him right now unless he wants to wait a month and see what else opens.
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Yeah I factored that in as Iām sure VT fans have as well.
Playing devilās advocate thoughā¦these guys are a different breed, hyper-confident and hyper-competitive. It may make sense to us, but not sure itās how the brain of an elite football coach functions (as @Galileo24 can surely attest to).
Taking the VT job would be further cementing his legacy of being not strong enough for the big moment and embracing his failures rather than running toward success (James, this therapy session will be on-the-house if youāre reading this).
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I wonder if his stock isnāt too high right now and he sees VT as a stepping stone to get back to a big time program. Idk he seems like a nut job to me so could many different motivating factors for him
Bingo. He may have an easier path to the CFB Playoff but he wonāt have access to the talent needed to actually win it. He said on gameday recently that his goal is to win a national championship, so why go to a program like VT that isnāt capable of winning one unless he sees it as a stepping stone
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From a very plugged in insider. Think theyāre jumping the gun thinking this is a done deal (myself included):
*Iām going to answer a few questions I was asked in one reply.
Is Franklin interested? It feels like it. Lots of buzz around him and VT. But heās not rushing to a decision if I had to guess. Iād bet money he will interview elsewhere and while this is the perfect fit for him, easiest path to the playoffs etc. his agent is the hurdle for everyone trying to hire him.
So reason to be excited for sure, would love to have him in Blacksburg.*
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Deep dive look as someone who doesnāt follow NFL, didnāt realize how bad the Bengals are defensively. Uh Oh Al Golden. (there does seem to be a contingent that blames the personnel he inherited rather than Golden himself as seen in the comments of the tweet below).
Searching Al Golden in general is a wild ride on Twitter: you have Bengals fans wishing for his death and Notre Dame fans wanting him back as their DC badly.
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Not sure that works. He will get comparable offers. Auburn, Kentucky, Florida, LSU, and Arkansas will still be there at the end of the year. Sumrall takes one, Kiffin might take one which then opens OIe Miss. Thatās still a handful of good jobs for him that Iād think he can win at and offer him resources on par or better than VT.
The path to playoffs thing is the big one. He may just want to reel off a couple playoff seasons to stick it in PSUās eye.
FSU, Florida, and UCLA should all be frantically calling to see what itād take.
Yeah this is what really scares me. The hype of Franklin, who played in the semi-finalās last year, combined with his success recruiting our area already, would probably erase any recruiting bump weāll see from our nice season. It would be very very bad for us.
Last time it was COVID, this time its a perfect storm of entitled PSU fans and timing that is going to dampen our program momentum.
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The Bengals are a disaster. I have a hard time blaming anyone for mistakes made there, thatās a classic trickle down from ownership rot. If they want to get rid of him, Iāll happily take him!
The shit they played with their rookie and Trey Hendrickson this year was truly embarrassing.
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We have no idea how this is going to play out. On paper, Franklin to VT doesnāt sound good for us, but we have no idea if he can pull the same type of talent to Blacksburg. Saying we immediately lose all momentum and are Fāed is a little premature. There are plenty of scenarios where this absolutely backfires or a good VT keeps our donors invested enough to want to keep pace.
Your doomerism is once again taking over
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I actually did change ākill our program momentumā to ādampenā because Iām turning into a starry eyed optimist.
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Definitely a āhot until youāre notā business. KU fans are starting to ask whether Lance Leipold is worth the money two years into his new contract.
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Probably should be my banner. I said JF to VT is my nightmare fuel but immediately starting thinking about how when things look great for VT fans, the other shoe always drops. Whether thatās him taking another job and using VT as leverage or 3 years down the road when he leaves them high and dry, I have to believe something bad is coming. VT is the ultimate ācanāt have nice thingsā fanbase
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